The invention relates to a movement training device with two moveable actuating elements for a pair of a person""s extremities. The invention also comprises at least one member, preferably an electric motor for driving and/or braking the actuating elements and an electronic unit for regulating and/or controlling the movement of the actuating elements.
A movement training device of the above-mentioned type is described in German published patent application DE 198 11 233 A1.
It involves a training device with a crank that is coupled to the feet and arms of a person training. The training device permits one to react to the remaining movement possibilities of a handicapped person in order to guarantee a most effective training routine. To this end, there is provided, in particular, a control or regulating arrangement with different functions to increase the speed as a function of the torque, acting on the crank, by means of a person training so that even very small residual muscle forces can make a contribution to the crank movement in the form of an increase in speed. In this manner, a rotary motion can be favored, for example, by patients, who exhibit unilateral paralysis owing to a stroke, due to which the affected extremity can be moved, if at all, only to a very limited degree.
Such a training device has already been used with success. However, it could be improved especially with respect to the ability to focus on the different sides of an extremity.
The invention is based on the problem of providing a movement training device of the above-mentioned type wherein one can react to the different movement possibilities of the extremities of a pair of extremities in order to guarantee an improved training routine.
This problem is solved by a movement training device comprising two moveable actuating elements for a pair of extremities of a person. The device includes at least one member for driving and/or braking the actuating elements and an electronic unit for regulating and/or controlling the movement of the actuating elements. The device is characterized by means for determining extremities-based measurement values that give information about which load is acting on the respective actuating element. On the basis of the extremities-based measurement values of at least one extremity, the electronic unit regulates and/or controls the movement of the actuating elements.
The dependent claims disclose advantageous and expedient further developments of the movement training device of the present invention.
The invention is based on a movement training device with two moveable actuating elements for a pair of extremities of a person; at least one member, preferably an electric motor for driving and/or braking the actuating elements; and an electronic unit for regulating and/or controlling the movement of the actuating elements. The central idea of the invention lies in the fact that there are means for determining extremities-based measurement values, which give information about which load is acting on the respective actuating element; and that on the basis of the extremities-based measurement values of at least one extremity, the electronic unit regulates and/or controls the movement of the actuating elements. To date, to regulate and/or control the movement of the crank, a variable that reflects the load on the crank by means of both crank sides has been used to regulate and/or control movement training devices for a pair of extremities. Said devices comprise, for example, a crank driven by an electric motor. Thus, there is, so-to-say, xe2x80x9cintegral trainingxe2x80x9d for both extremity sides. Now it is possible in an elegant manner with the invention to offer constantly a training form that is optimally coordinated with the movement possibilities of the extremities, e.g. the legs of a person training, since the electronic unit regulates and/or controls the actuating elements of the extremities. That is, in particular the selection of the regulating and/or control functions and/or the combination of a variable for such functions is/are done on the basis of the extremities-based measurement values and not by a summation variable, which reflects only as an integral the load on the actuating elements. Correspondingly the invention is also not supposed to relate to the fact that measurement values that are found on the basis of the extremities are, indeed, obtained, but then they are simply added together for the purpose of forming a variable, which is intended for the regulating and/or control arrangement and that is equivalent to the aforementioned integral summation variable. The goal of the inventive procedure is to optimize specifically the training routine, for example, of a weak leg, as compared to a strong leg of a person training, in such a manner that the result is a comparatively fast recovery or normalization of the sick weak leg.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention the electronic unit selects, as a function of the extremities-based measurement values of at least one extremity, a regulating and/or control function for the purpose of regulating and/or controlling the movement of the actuating elements. At the same time, the extremities-based measurement values can also be used to preset the parameters for the functions. The selection can take place as a function of the measurement values of one or the other extremity or as a function of a combination of the measurement values of the extremities in a specifiable weighting.
In another preferred embodiment of the invention, the electronic unit uses the extremities-based measurement values of at least one extremity as the regulating and/or control variable for a regulating and/or control function for the purpose of regulating and/or controlling the movement of the actuating elements. In another preferred embodiment of the invention, the selection of the regulating and/or control functions as well as the use of the measurement values as the regulating and/or control variable for these functions can be combined as a function of the extremities-based measurement values of at least one extremity. That is, the measurement values of at least one extremity determine the selection of the regulating and/or control function and are simultaneously the regulating and/or control variable in this function.
In an even more preferred embodiment of the invention, the electronic unit uses either the measurement values of one or the other extremity as the regulating and/or control variable for a regulating and/or control function for the purpose of regulating and/or controlling the movement of the actuating elements. The measurement values of one extremity can also be used, for example, only section-by-section. However, a regulating and/or control variable does not have to follow automatically from the measurement values of one or the other extremity; it can also be a combination of these measurement values with different weightings. In so doing, measurement values can also be used only section-by-section. In this manner, for example, the effect of a healthy leg on a sick weak leg during coordinated movement can be determined in a very sensitive manner.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the invention when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.